Scoring Drought Trips Up Hurricane in Loss to Wichita State

Tuesday, February 1

Wichita, KS

8:00 PM

Tulsa

7-13,1-8AAC

Wichita State

11-8,2-5AAC

Tulsa

Wichita St.

Scoring Drought Trips Up Hurricane in Loss to Wichita State

2/1/2022 11:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

GAME BOOK (PDF) | SEASON STATS (PDF)

WICHITA, KAN. –– The University of Tulsa went cold from the field in the second half as the Golden Hurricane fell to Wichita State 58-48 in front of 8,132 fans at Charles Koch Arena on Tuesday night.

The Hurricane shot 26 percent from the field, 25 percent from three and was an uncharacteristic 6-of-14 from the free throw line (42.9 percent) in the second half. The Hurricane were outscored 28-19 in the second 20 minutes after taking a 30-29 lead into the break.

Tulsa dropped to 7-13 and 1-8 in The American Athletic Conference with the loss, while Wichita State improved to 11-8 and 2-5 in the AAC.

Sam Griffin led all scorers with 17 points and had five rebounds. Tim Dalger was second on the team with eight points and Jeriah Horne pulled down a team-high six rebounds.

Despite the offensive woes, Tulsa's defense was on-point, holding Tyson Etienne to only 10 points, all of which came in the opening minutes. The Shockers were led with 11 from Ricky Council IV, who recorded all of those in the second half.

For the game, the two teams shot the ball evenly, with Tulsa shooting 32.7 percent and Wichita State shooting 32.2 percent from the field. Neither team shot the deep ball well. The Hurricane hit 4 of its 18 attempts (22.2 percent) from deep and the Shockers shot a slightly better 28.6 percent but hit eight in total. The Hurricane won the rebounding battle 42-40 but lost the turnover battle 17-10. The special stats were close to even as well, with no team holding a major advantage.

Rey Idowu had the first points of the second half with a pair of free throws to give Tulsa a 32-29 advantage at the 17:06 mark. Wichita State quickly tied the game with a 3-pointer. Then Griffin gave Tulsa the lead back with a jumper in the lane, before Wichita State responded to tie the game and then take the lead 35-34 after going 1-of-2 from the foul line.

After Anthony Pritchard drove to the hoop to lay it in and give Tulsa its last lead, 36-35, with 13:41 to play, Tulsa would hit only one more field goal until Tim Dalger knocked down a triple with :35 remaining to cut Wichita State's lead to 58-45. Sterling-Gaston Chapman hit another three with a few seconds remaining to end the game.

Wichita State's Etienne came out firing from the tip, scoring 10 of his team's first 14 points as the Shockers took an early 14-6 lead at the 15:15 mark. However, Tulsa would clamp down defensively and hold him scoreless for the remainder of the game.

Wichita State extended its lead to 10, 21-11 with 11:15 remaining, but the Hurricane responded with a 12-0 run to take a 23-21 lead with 6:05 on the clock. Griffin got the run started with an and-one on a tough driving layup. Gaston-Chapman then converted on a pair of free throws after Griffin stole the ball on the ensuing possession.

Following another Griffin bucket, Horne got his first shot to fall on a turnaround jumper to tie the game at 21 with just under 6:30 left in the opening half. Darien Jackson gave Tulsa its first lead as he caught the Shockers defense relaxed in transition and made a tough layup.

Wichita State regained its lead and went back up five, 28-23, at the 3:40 mark, but again Tulsa fought back again. This time it was Dalger who converted on an and-one opportunity to tie the game at 28. Neither team scored another field goal until Griffin made a difficult turnaround jumper on the far baseline to send Tulsa to the locker up one.

The two teams were close to equal in the first half with Tulsa narrowly outshooting the Shockers 36 percent to 35 percent from the field, but Wichita State hit 6 threes to Tulsa's two. The Hurricane held a 25-16 advantage on the boards in the opening half.

Griffin scored 14 points to pace Tulsa in the first half. He shot 6-of-12 from the field and led the team with four rebounds.

Tulsa finishes its two-game road swing at Temple on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+. The Hurricane will return to the Reynolds Center on Tuesday, Feb. 8, to host the East Carolina Pirates.